By the way, the other Inside Politics story this week comes from Wednesday’s show. IP is endlessly irritating—that “strategy session” segment in particular. Torie Clarke was on with Paul Begala the day before the Novak walk-off. The John Roberts nomination came up and instead of offering much of anything from a conservative/pro-life point of view, she throws out “far right” (for not the first time), making it seem like the folks who were concerned about where he’s coming from on that front are fringe. Obviously, that’s not the case. Even matching it with the phrase “far Left” she was both overly simplistic and unnecessarily dismissive of some legitimate issues. She may not be into the abortion issue/agree with the bulk of her party/etc., but there’s just something fundamentally misleading then having her be the “right” guy when that’s not reflective of most conservative Republicans. If she’s coming from that angle, you’d think she’d overcompensate for that a little to represent the Right a little more completely.

I’ve noticed this about her on that segment before. Rick Santorum’s book came up weeks back and she was automatically hostile when you’d think her instinct—inasmuch as she is “the Right” as far as Inside Politics is concerned for that segment—would be the opposite. Instead she became just one more Santorum basher.

Obviously, the Right has some ideological diversity, but CNN shouldn’t be kidding us that she’s a fair match for Mr. Lock Step Begala.